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Stacy’s Chicken Salad Chick opened its doors to Rome on Aug. 27, and fed a full, hungry line of drive-thru and walk-in customers up until closing. Chicken Salad Chick is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Photo by Madison Morris | Campus Carrier

August welcomed a new restaurant and nutritional drink bar both within four miles of the Berry College campus. Chicken Salad Chick, a southern inspired chicken eatery, and Three Rivers Nutrition, the newest healthy spot, bring new flavor to Rome’s many food options.

Three Rivers Nutrition was a much needed addition to the Mount Berry bypass. They offer a wide variety of meal replacement shakes and nutritional teas, with flavors like Almond Joy, Key Lime Pie, Salted Caramel and many more. This hip, new joint is a different venture for Rome because it is one of the first places that is not a grocery store that offers customers the chance to try a healthier eating lifestyle and maintain it.

Three Rivers Nutrition is owned by Emma Rikel who, according to a press release in the Rome News Tribune, is a recent West Texas A&M University graduate. She and her husband, Landon, are both well-versed in agribusiness. Agribusiness encompasses all of the practices related to modern food production. Their backgrounds translate well into the creation of Three Rivers Nutrition. The healthy meal replacement shakes, energizing herbal teas, protein snacks, immune boosting supplements, weight loss supplements and sports nutrition smoothies are unique products that are hard to find near Rome.

Healthy eating is becoming a growing fad in today’s society, and as the crave for acai bowls continues to grow, we see smoothie bars and juice bars popping up everywhere. In bigger cities, such as Atlanta for example, there are healthy options on every corner. This is not a luxury we had in Rome until now. I’m excited to see the support Three Rivers Nutrition receives.

“I love the idea of being a ‘healthy bartender’ as we call it,” said Rikel in an interview with the Rome News Tribune. “Along with the product they buy, we get to encourage [customers], load them up with positive thoughts and send them out to conquer the rest of their day. Simply loving on our customers and watching them grow into as healthier lifestyle is just so rewarding”

Located at 874 Spider Webb Drive, open Monday-Friday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., the new health bar is the perfect place to grab a quick pick-me-up after practice or class. They also offer around-the-clock wellness coaching for their customers. The goal is to have their customers leave feeling refreshed, reinvigorated and restored physically, emotionally and spiritually.

On the other side of Martha Berry Highway, Chicken Salad Chick has found its new home next to everyone’s favorite, Cookout. Stacey Brown, “The Chick” behind the chicken salad, decided to open up shop in her hometown of Rome.

Chicken Salad Chick was founded in Auburn, Ala. in 2008. The menu consists of soups, sandwiches, fresh side salads, desserts and of course, southern-style chicken salad made from scratch. According to a press release from Business Wire, at the Rome location, customers will have the opportunity to order exclusive, original flavors, like Nutty Nana and Jazzy Julie, all year round rather than at select times which is the case at other locations.

The 800 Martha Berry Blvd. location offers dine-in, take-out, drive-thru and full-service catering from 10 a.m to 8 p.m. Monday-Saturday. It also includes a courtyard in the middle of the restaurant. This addition was requested by Brown, who added her own flair to the newest Chicken Salad Chick establishment.

Outside the courtyard patio is accented with cafe lights and jasmine plants. Inside, customers can find a timeline of the rise of Chicken Salad Chick told in pictures, all the way from Stacy’s kitchen to the well-known fast food restaurant it is today.